Mayor Puts Fire Dept. on Hot Seat

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa sounded an alarm Tuesday about a 21% increase in workers’ compensation claims by Los Angeles firefighters, calling for a plan to reduce the numbers of on-duty injuries.

Firefighters filed 1,001 claims in the first eight months of this fiscal year, up from 830 during the same period last budget year. In addition, firefighters took 13,768 more hours off due to injuries.

Had it not been for the Fire Department, claims by city employees overall would have been down 2% this year, the mayor said in a letter to Fire Chief William Bamattre..

“Instead, due almost entirely to the Fire Department’s increase, the city experienced an overall increase of 1%,” the mayor wrote.

“This negative impact is created despite the fact that the Fire Department represents only 11% of total city employees,” he said.

The mayor also noted the increase comes after claims and injury time off by firefighters fell the previous year.

“This year’s reversal is disappointing and unacceptable,” the mayor wrote.

Fire Capt. Carlos Calvillo said he did not know why the numbers were up, but said the department would respond to the mayor’s request for a plan.

“It’s definitely something we are going to look into,” he said.

The Fire Department’s participation in the light-duty program, which is intended to speed the return to work of injured firefighters, also needs to improve, the mayor said.

Villaraigosa said that for every eight hours that firefighters are sidelined by an injury, only one hour is worked by a firefighter brought back for light duty, such as desk work.

Citywide the ratio is 4 to 1.

Cutting the Fire Department ratio to 6 to 1 would be the equivalent of having five additional, full-time firefighters on the job, the mayor said.